Alan Dershowitz Issues Warning on Chances of a Trump Acquittal in Manhattan

Alan Dershowitz, a retired Harvard Law professor, stated that there is only a small likelihood of former President Donald Trump being acquitted in New York City during Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s lawsuit against him.

He explained to Fox News, “There’s no way he can get a fair trial. I don’t care if Jesus, Muhammad, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, and Thurgood Marshall defended Trump in New York, he wouldn’t win this case. Hung jury? Maybe. Acquittal? Never.”

Dershowitz, renowned for helping represent O.J. Simpson and Jim Bakker, added that no potential juror in New York would “want to walk around town and have people say, ‘That’s the juror who freed Donald Trump and allowed him to be president.'”

He compared the current scenario to his experiences as a civil rights advocate in the South, “even if you didn’t spit on the sidewalk, if the sheriff said you spit on the sidewalk and charged you with it, there’s no chance you could get acquitted by an all-White Jim Crow jury,” he elaborated. “Everybody knew that. You were innocent, but everyone knew you were going to be convicted.”

Dershowitz believes that transferring the case to another venue, such as Staten Island, is improbable. New York state judges are elected, but the judge in Trump’s case, Judge Juan Manuel Merchan, was appointed by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He said, “Any decent judge would change the venue immediately, but this judge won’t do that. Any decent judge would throw the case out on the statute of limitations. This judge won’t do it. He doesn’t want to ruin his career.”

Trump floated the notion earlier this week of shifting his case to Staten Island, where he would undoubtedly be exposed to a more amiable jury pool. In the 2020 election, over 57% of Staten Island voters voted for Trump, whereas only about 10% supported him in Manhattan.

Dershowitz stated, “Federal judges are more likely to rule in his favor because they have lifetime appointments. I don’t think a state court judge has the courage. I don’t think state court jurors have the courage [to acquit him].” Trump faces 34 allegations of falsifying business records in connection to payments he made to adult actress Stormy Daniels and former model Karen McDougal. He has refuted these accusations, and his legal team has assured that he will file motions against them.